Today’s News - Tuesday, February 7, 2012
EDITOR'S NOTE: Early morning travel plans mean we will not be posting news tomorrow, but we'll be back Thursday, February 9.
• The must-reads of the day: Timberg's take on architecture being the proverbial canary in the economic coal mine: "One of the coolest creative-class careers has cratered with the economy" - now what? (who didn't he talk to?).
• Szenasy queries Horton (also quoted profusely above) re: "everything from starchitecture, to arch-speak, the recession, and unemployment" (does "The Real Architect's Handbook" out "insider secrets about the dirty side of the profession"?).
• Eggener takes a long look at Louis Curtiss, as good as Maybeck and Goodhue, and ponders: "How and why does an architect become famous?"
• Hough minces no words about how Olmsted holds landscape architects back: "we need to promote ourselves as innovators who are capable of solving complex contemporary problems," but "by linking our image so closely to the archaic legacy of a man best known for creating bucolic 19th-century landscapes, we look rather irrelevant in that regard."
• Murray gets air time "talking about the shocking results of the AJ's women in architecture survey."
• Crosbie strikes a more optimistic note with a new initiative to pair academic design studios with professional firms to "give aspiring architects a better understanding of the profession" (just be sure to set ground rules).
• H&deM and Ai Weiwei tapped as team for the 2012 Serpentine Pavilion - with plans to dig in the dirt (no images - yet).
• Pogrebin digs into the Eisenhower Memorial controversy "that has pitted a leading American family against one of the country's most recognized architects."
• Meanwhile, Gehry offers his services pro bono to design a new Culver City home for the Jazz Bakery (needles to say, "on a much smaller scale" than Disney Hall).
• Moore cheers dRMM's Festival House in Blackpool: "a rare thing - a place for civic weddings that is celebratory rather than bureaucratic."
• Mies's Villa Tugendhat is almost ready for its close-up after years of neglect: the "tragedy was seen by how such a Modernist masterpiece could be left unloved."
• LaBarre on a hot red children's psychiatric center in Zaragoza: it "looks like a fire house smashed into a giant EEG scan. Only louder"; the interiors are "almost sinister" (and this is for children?!!?).
• Chaban [hearts] BIG's pulsating Valentine heart in Times Square.
• Unconventional tours of London, led by homeless, "are not meant just to amuse, but to encourage people to reflect."
• One we couldn't resist: women's rights campaigners want red lip-shaped urinals (designed by a woman) removed from men's room in Rolling Stones museum in Germany; says the owner: "They were damned expensive and they're staying where they are and that's final."
• Call for entries: HOf - Horizontal Farm New Delhi International Architecture Ideas Competition.
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The architecture meltdown: One of the coolest creative-class careers has cratered with the economy. Where does architecture go from here? A once-thriving profession, one that requires considerable education and work ethic...is in trouble...The downturn has shown the contradictions of a field built on wait-your-turn hierarchy, a sense of self-importance, and a culture of sacrifice. By Scott Timberg -- Gehry; Meier; Koolhaas; Hadid; Piano; Mayne; Guy Horton; Kevin Daly/Daly Genik; Marcelo Spina/Georgina Huljich/Patterns; Eric Owen Moss; Barbara Bestor; Olivier Touraine/Deborah Richmond/Touraine Richmond Architects- Salon |
Q&A: Guy Horton: ...book by Horton and Sherin Wing...peaked my interest enough to ask Guy some questions about "The Real Architect’s Handbook: Things I Didn’t Learn in Architecture School." We ended up talking about everything from starchitecture, to arch-speak, the recession, and unemployment. By Susan S. Szenasy [images]- Metropolis Magazine |
Louis Curtiss and the Politics of Architectural Reputation: Midwestern Maybeck? How and why does an architect become famous? ...challenge our often limiting and simplistic assumptions about history, including those that place a few towering, isolated figures on postage stamps, while others who worked beside them are left to dwell in obscurity. By Keith Eggener
the mechanisms and implications of architectural fame.
Bernard Maybeck or Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue- Places Journal |
Frederick Law Olmsted Is Holding Us Back (There. I Said It.): Or is it landscape architects' own fault...we need to promote ourselves as innovators...capable of solving complex contemporary problems. By linking our image so closely to the archaic legacy of a man best known for creating bucolic 19th-century landscapes, we look rather irrelevant in that regard. By Mark Hough, ASLA -- James Corner Field Operations; Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Piet Oudolf; Dan Kiley; Michael Van Valkenburgh- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
'There's a tremendous amount of sexism', AJ editor Christine Murray tells BBC's Woman’s Hour: Talking about the shocking results of the AJ’s women in architecture survey...she highlighted that 70% of those surveyed had experienced sexism at some point in their career yet, worryingly, many architects remained blind to the issue.- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Getting Practice in Your Practice: Firms Hosting Academic Design Studios: Joining two different design cultures can give aspiring architects a better understanding of the profession...need to set strictly defined ground rules — both philosophical (how students and professionals will interact) and mundane (proper use of office supplies). By Michael J. Crosbie -- JCJ Architecture- AIArchitect |
Beijing Olympics dream team to take on 2012 Serpentine Pavilion in Hyde Park: ...Ai Weiwei will again team up with Herzog & de Meuron...for the first year ever, the gallery will allow the designers to take the pavilion underground. Visitors will be invited to go beneath the Serpentine’s lawn to explore the hidden history of its previous Pavilions.- Telegraph (UK) |
Eisenhower as Barefoot Boy? Family Objects to a Memorial: ...attempting to delay approval of the project in a dispute that has pitted a leading American family against one of the country’s most recognized architects. By Robin Pogrebin -- Frank Gehry- New York Times |
Frank Gehry is working for free as architect of new Jazz Bakery: ...his pro bono work on a new Culver City home for the Jazz Bakery would be on a much smaller scale than his downtown Walt Disney Concert Hall.- Los Angeles Times |
Festival House, Blackpool: A beautiful new seafront register office is one of the gems of Blackpool's regeneration: ...a rare thing – a place for civic weddings that is celebratory rather than bureaucratic...sought to capture the spirit of Blackpool without being patronising or cliched. In both they have succeeded... By Rowan Moore -- de Rijke Marsh Morgan (dRMM); LDA Design [images- Observer (UK) |
Czech Republic: Masterpiece returned to former glory: The early history of Villa Tugendhat was rocked by the turbulence of the 20th Century...The tragedy was seen by how such a Modernist masterpiece could be left unloved...Now, a two-year renovation...is almost complete...will reopen to the public March 6. By Karel Janicek (AP) -- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe [slide show]- New Zealand Herald |
A Flashy Psychiatry Center Visualizes The Mind-States Of Inhabitants:Spanish architect José Javier Gallardo Ortega hopes that his new, fire-engine red children’s psychiatric center in Zaragoza "robs us of prejudice" against people with behavioral and emotional problems...looks like a fire house smashed into a giant EEG scan. Only louder...There’s something deeply impersonal, almost sinister... By Suzanne LaBarre -- g.bang [images]- Fast Company |
Times Square Loves Bjarke Ingels [UPDATE: Now With Five-Times More Heart]: ...using 400 special LED-filled tubes to create a heart cube that will react to the environment around it... By Matt Chaban -- Bjarke Ingels Group/BIG [images]- New York Observer |
Bridges and Benches: Homeless Tour Guides Show a New Side to London: The Globe Theatre is part of the tour, complete with Shakespeare anecdotes. But so too are the benches retro-fitted to prevent the indigent from sleeping on them. Tours led by the homeless offer locals a whole new look at their city. -- Unseen Tours [slide show]- Der Spiegel (Germany) |
No Satisfaction: Lip-Shaped Urinals in Stones Museum Called Sexist: Women's rights campaigners are demanding the removal of urinals shaped like female mouths from the men's lavatory of a Rolling Stones museum in Germany. The owner's response..."They were damned expensive and they're staying where they are and that's final." -- Meike van Schijndel [image]- Der Spiegel (Germany) |
Call for entries: HOf – Horizontal Farm New Delhi International Architecture Ideas Competition: a facility with a range of servies and functions that improve the quality of life of residents; cash prizes; earlybird registration deadline (save money): March 31- AWR - Architecture Workshop in Rome |
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Ennead Architects: Natural History Museum of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah |
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